


Hanging By A Moment

by Eternal Scribe (Shadowcat)



Category: The Host - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-01
Updated: 2011-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-14 07:56:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/147072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat/pseuds/Eternal%20Scribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"We're going to fix it for both of them," Melanie reassured her brother. "We'll get an appropriate body for Wanda and then the two of them will be able to work things out together."</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Hanging By A Moment

Jared only waited a few seconds before he quietly crept after Wanda and followed her to Doc's medical center. He only heard a few words, before he was turning and sprinting to the cavern where all of the rooms were. He entered Ian's room without knocking.

"Ian! Wake up!" There was a sense of urgency in his whisper.

Ian's eyes opened immediately. "Jared?" The space in the bed beside him was empty and he jumped to his feet. "Where is she? Where's Wanda?"

"Doing something altruistic," Jared said quietly. "Come on. We have to stop her and Doc." He shook his head. "Keep it quiet though. I don't want Jamie involved in case we're too late."

"What is she doing?"

"Killing herself," was the pained response.

Ian sucked in a breath. "She wouldn't," his tone was low.

"To save Mel... and keep herself from being what she thinks is a threat to all of us? Of course she would." He sighed. "She loves you... and she'd rather die than have anything happen to you."

"Or to you... or the rest of us." He shook his head. "Damn it, Wanda."

They made good time in getting back to the Doc's place and as he picked up the soul that was Wanda from Mel's neck, a sharp blade was placed against his throat.

"Sorry, Doc, but you're going to have to put Wanda in one of these tanks so she'll be safe and sound until we can find her a new body." Jared's voice was firm.

Inwardly, Doc gave a sigh of relief. He had been against letting Wanda die from the beginning when she told him of her plans. However, he _had_ made a promise to her and he had to at least give some sort of resistance.

"Now, son, I made a promise to Wanda and she didn't want to be a body thief."

"Put her in the tank... carefully, Doc." Ian said quietly. "I made a promise to her, too. I made a promise to love her... and I'm not willing to watch as she kills herself."

Doc carefully placed Wanda in one of the cryotanks and watched as Ian closed it firmly. Then he turned back to where Mel was laying unconscious. Once Wanda was safely in the tank, Ian stepped out of reach with the tank and Jared released the knife from Doc's throat.

"Now, heal up Mel so we can talk to her and decide what to do." Jared requested quietly.

"I don't think Mel agreed with what Wanda was doing," Ian said softly as they watched Doc work on her.

"I bet she tried arguing against it," Jared nodded. "She wouldn't have wanted Wanda to die... not now that we all know the kind of... person she really is."

After Doc was finished applying Heal and Seal to Mel's neck, Jared knelt down next to the cot. Nodding at Ian and Doc, it was Jared who sprayed the Awake into Melanie's face.

"Melanie? Sweetheart?"

There was no need for Jared to worry about convincing Melanie to open her eyes and rejoin him. Her eyes opened as soon as the Awake was sprayed into her face. She focused anguish filled eyes on Jared for a long moment. When she turned her head to look at Doc, her expression wasn't happy.

"You let her die," she accused him.

"Melanie -" Ian started.

"No," she interrupted him, sitting up and swinging her feet to the floor. "She loved you so much, Ian. She cared so much for all of us here that she decided to kill herself and Doc helped her. She didn't talk to him about removing he from my body to put into a tank and send away somewhere. She asked him to let her be buried next to Walter and Wes. He removed her from my head and --"

"--put her into a cryotank," Doc interjected in a dry tone.

Melanie stopped in confusion, and Jared nodded, pointing to the tank Ian was holding to him protectively.

"I followed her," Jared explained, pulling Melanie into his arms and holding her close to him for a very long moment. He started running a hand through her hair. "When I heard what she and Doc were talking about, I went and got Ian."

"She's alive and safe," Ian confirmed, though there was pain in his voice.

"She can't stay like that forever," Melanie finally said quietly. "It's not fair to her."

"No, she can't."

"She needs a new body."

He nodded. "Yes, she does."

Melanie looked at Doc. "Could you put Wanda into a new body if we were to find her the right one?"

"I could..."

Melanie narrowed her eyes at his reluctant tone and she felt Jared's muscles tense. "But?"

"Wanda didn't want to be a parasite, Melanie. You of all people should know how she felt about everything," he said. "Her remorse over what had been done to you was a powerful thing. She was also worried about being put into another body that still housed the original owner. Either way, she risked losing everyone she cared for -- and endangering all of us."

"That's not going to happen."

"Mel?"

She tilted her head to look up at Jared. "Get Jeb and Jamie to the eastern tunnel and the game field. We have plans to make."

"Jamie? Are you sure?"

She shrugged. "He has as much cause as we do to get Wanda back. It's only fair to let him have the choice as to whether to be involved in this or not."

They started walking out of the makeshift hospital, and then Jared stopped to look over his shoulder. "Ian?"

"I don't care," he mumbled, sitting on a cot and staring into the cryotank at the glowing silver being within. "I don't care what she looks like. I just want Wanda back."

 

It was a bittersweet reunion between Melanie and her brother and uncle. While they were happy to have her safely back with them, like Mel, they were saddened by the loss of Wanda. She had been their friend and they had cared for her immensely.

Melanie had her arm around Jamie as she looked at Jeb. "We're going to bring Wanda back to us," she said firmly. "I know what her fears and concerns were, and none of those things are going to happen."

"I have no objection to getting Wanda back among us," Jeb said with a nod. "But how do you figure we can do this without any of those risks she was worried about?"

"We find someone that has been with a soul so long that the original owner of that body is long gone. We remove the current soul and replace her with Wanda. By doing it that way, there is no danger of Wanda being dragged back to the Seekers by her new body. She also wouldn't be a parasite. The body has already been hijacked and stolen. We're just making sure that the body becomes the home of someone who deserves a new life." Melanie's voice was firm as she talked. She had obviously worked all of this out in her mind already. "And no one deserves a new life more than Wanda. I don't think anyone wort a shit would disagree with that."

Jeb laughed. "Now that's the niece I remember."

Melanie's smile was grim. "I'm also the one that wanted Wanda to let Kyle's ass fall into the river and drown when he tried to kill us."

"How's Ian?" Jamie asked quietly. He had watched Ian with Wanda from the beginning and knew how he felt about her. He didn't want to talk about Kyle. He still hadn't forgiven the other man for trying to kill his sister and friend.

"Not doing so well, kid," Jared answered. "He's still in Doc's hospital with Wanda's tank. He's pretty broken up over what Wanda tried to do."

"He's in love with her," Jamie said looking at them all. "He has been for a long time."

"I know," Melanie nodded. "She loves him, too, and it was tearing her apart. She's in love with Ian and I'm in love with Jared. The situation was hurting them both so much."

"We're going to fix it for both of them," Melanie reassured her brother. "We'll get an appropriate body for Wanda and then the two of them will be able to work things out together." She pulled back to look down into Jamie's face. "You probably know Wanda better than anyone besides Ian and I. Do you want to go on the raid with Jared and I to find a new body for her?"

Jamie gave her a look. "Of course I want to go with you guys. We have to make sure we find a body that _looks_ like Wanda. It can't be just any old body. It has to match her."

No one asked Jamie to explain what he meant because they understood what he was telling them.

"She also should be someone that doesn't look threatening or aggressive. No one that looks capable of a fight."

"Someone that anyone else who sees her will want to protect her and take care of her. Someone that nobody could bring themselves to hurt or distrust," Jared said quietly, his eyes full of sadness and regret as he looked at Melanie.

Mel reached out and squeezed his hand. She knew that he was thinking about how he and Kyle had hurt Wanda over and over again ... and how Kyle had tried to kill them.

"Someone that if any one did try to hurt her, others around would immediately come to her defense." Jeb nodded in agreement. "Someone as gentle and fragile as Wanda is, and would make people protect her from herself."

"Someone young, but not too young. Not a kid," Melanie added. "That wouldn't be fair to her or to Ian." She looked at Jared. "Wanda has never been in love before in all of her previous eight lives -- and definitely nowhere near the love that she feels for Ian. She risked everything she had to bring me back to you. I want to be able to bring her back to Ian. They love each other like we love each other."

"They deserve a life together and to be happy," Jared agreed.

"There's something else that you might want to consider in all of this planning," Jeb said quietly.

Jared's expression grew more serious. "What's that?"

"I think you should all make sure that you find her a new body in place far from here for a few reasons," Jeb replied. "One, a disappearance in this area has already happened with that Seeker. Another soul goes disappearing and it could make things mighty uncomfortable around here for awhile. We get our Wanda back, and it could be too much of a danger for her to be going out and about."

Mel nodded slowly. "He's right. A body disappears and then resurfaces around here? That would be dangerous. Making raids for medical supplies or food could end up getting her killed."

"We can't let her die," Jamie said, his voice sounding a little frantic.

"That's not going to happen kid," Jared reassured him. "We'll Wanda a new host from some place outside of Arizona. It will be all right. I promise."

"We'll leave in the morning," Melanie said decisively. "Before sunrise."

 

They had been watching the young woman for over two weeks.

Jamie was the one who had discovered her in the beginning. They hadn't been in Washington very long when he spotted her. After discovering her and her movements for most of the day, he had gone to get Melanie and Jared so that they could see her.

"See," Jamie whispered, watching the girl in her yard. "She's perfect. She looks gentle and like an angel -- just like I've always imagined Wanda would look."

Melanie and Jared seemed to agree with him.

"She looks completely harmless," Melanie said quietly. "Plus, she's a host to a soul already. I can see how her eyes reflect the light back."

After a few moments, Jared looked from Melanie to the young woman. He was silent for a long moment as he watched her. He seemed to come to a decision and then turned serious eyes to Jamie. "What's your opinion, kid?"

Jamie smiled as he looked back at the girl. "That's Wanda. That is most definitely Wanda."

 

The next ten days were difficult for everyone involved. Doc carefully removed Pet from the host's neck and laced her into one of the cryo tanks. They waited to put Wanda into the new body until they were absolutely sure that there was no other consciousness still residing within the host body.

"It's time," Doc finally said. "We waited longer than we did with Jodi and her skin is starting to lose some of its silvery color. We may lose the host if we wait much longer.

The other four in the room looked at the young man who hadn't said much while all of this was going on.

"I want to be the one to put her in her new body," Ian said in a hoarse voice. "She's mine and I want to be the one to place her into her new body so that she can be with us again."

None of the group had any intention of denying Ian his request. He had kept Wanda's tank with him from the moment she had gone into it. He had allowed no one to touch it and had kept her safe.

"Okay, son," Doc said softly as he began making an incision in the neck of the new host. "Take her out of the tank so we can introduce her to her new home."

Ian was very careful as he opened the tank and gently took Wanda out. Holding her in his hand, his eyes teared up slightly. "You're very beautiful, my Wanderer." He whispered as he moved closer to Doc.

The room was full of silence as Ian laid Wanda in position inside the incision. After it looked like she was in place like she needed to be, Doc began using Seal on the wound. After sealing it, he brushed it lightly with some of the healing powder. Once that was done, they turned her gently on her back.

"Use the Awake," Melanie suggested, a note of worry in her voice. What if this didn't go as planned? What if the lost her after all?

Ian brushed Wanda's face with his fingers, and when he saw the flutter of her eyelashes, he managed a tired smile. "Wake up, Wanderer. Come back to us."

"Wake up, honey," Melanie said. "Wake up. You're home where you belong."


End file.
